Category Archives: Misc
A peek into the life of a competitive dancer…
I haven’t posted a lot here on my blog about dancing; most of my posts have been more focused on getting healthy. So here’s a “dancing” post for your enjoyment.
A couple of days ago I sent an email to my dance partner. We have a big dance competition coming up. It is the Dallas Dance Festival and it is widely considered to be the largest UCWDC Country Western Competition Dance Event in the US other than the World Championships. I know that a lot of dancers treat it as something of a “dress rehearsal” for Worlds. Anyway, so much for the background, now back to the email.
I realized that we only had six practices left before the competition so I thought “Hey, I’d better do some thinking about what needs the most work and figure out a tentative ‘schedule’ and send it to my partner to see what she thinks”. Create a “Game Plan” in other words.
She thought what I wrote was funny, printed it out and brought it to the dance studio to show the other dancers and our coaches. Everyone was amused, and then one of the coaches said to my partner “That’s funny, he should start a blog.” Well, since I already *have*a blog, and a couple other dancers also thought it was amusing, I thought I’d share it here with the dozen folks who are actually reading this blog. Enjoy!
Here is the email: Read the rest of this entry
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Start of a new journey…
Well, the worst has officially happened.
Well maybe not *THE* worst, as in the worst that can *ever* happen. But at least in terms of living a healthy lifestyle, it has.
Hmmm….Actually, if I’m going to be completely honest with myself, my current fitness level is not the worst it could be. Things can always be worse.
Nonetheless, the situation right now is not a pretty one.
So, let’s get the facts on the table, engage in just a wee bit of self-flagellation, (Don’t you just love that word?!) then we’ll talk just a bit about what happens next.
“The facts ma’am, just the facts…”
I now officially weigh the most I’ve ever weighed. I have the highest body fat percentage that I’ve ever had. I can feel the effects that living an unhealthy lifestyle have produced in my body. The cold hard numbers are: 279.25 lbs / 37.2 % body fat
Self-flagellation…
Ok, I know that some of my kinky friends will quickly jump all over this and say that I really enjoy a bit of self-flagellation but in this case there are no whips or leather involved. 😉 I got to this point by making choices: bad ones. I know that I didn’t wake up one morning and say “Hey, I want to live an unhealthy lifestyle.” It wasn’t one choice. It was many. It didn’t happen overnight. It has taken me years to arrive where I am now. Small choices that I made, tiny actions that I did, have now accumulated over years and produced the unhealthy me that I see in the mirror every morning.
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Sometimes life gets in the way of living…
Ah… the proverbial path littered with “good intentions”. I know thee well. It’s been about two weeks since I’ve posted.
First some housekeeping: I’m still trying to get back into the groove and routine of being on Jenny Craig. Notice that I said “trying”. *sigh* More on that in another post. Second, I’ll try to catch up the weekly progress photos and charts this weekend. I took the photos and I have the data but haven’t had time to post them yet. There is no real visible difference yet in the photos and alas, my net weight remains almost the same. 😦
The big news and the reason I’ve been not blogging is that I’ve had drama in my life: things going on at work, a couple unexpected car repairs and, dealing with the realization that I can’t afford to do ProAms at the UCWDC World Championships in Jan. Ugh. Bleech even! Paatooie! With all that, I’ve not had a lot of time for the blog.
I haven’t talked a lot yet about dancing here on the blog. So a bit of background for those of you who are not into the sport of Country Western Dancing: “ProAm” is a concatenation of two words: Professional and Amateur. The ProAm division is where a Coach or “Professional” dancer teams up with a student or “Amateur” dancer. Both dance together on the floor during the competition, however, only the student is judged in the competition and receives a score. The Pro’s job is to be on the floor with the student, dancing, and try to make the student look as good as possible and to help them out, if possible, during any glitches…things like the student forgetting what comes next in the routine. Not that has EVER happened to me! If you believe that then send me your credit cards and your bank account routing number so that I can deposit a kabillion-zillion dollars into your account. 😉
Anyway… I do digress at times don’t I? Moving on… So, when I say that “I can’t do ProAms at Worlds”, this… Is. A. BIG. DEAL!. *sigh* Read the rest of this entry
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What is a Healthy Body Fat Percentage?
Unfortunately there isn’t a definitive answer. Everybody seems to have a different study that they base their numbers upon. And some people can be healthy and fat!
The good news is that while none of the published “recommended body fat percentage ranges” match each other exactly, there is some overlap in the ranges. Take a look at these “suggested” ranges, then do an honest self-evaluation, then set goals that are realistic and good for you!
As with any measure of fitness, these numbers are merely guides. Listen to what your body is telling you. Talk to your doctor and monitor your situation regularly. I encourage you to get these books and read the accompanying information that goes with these charts. If your local library doesn’t have them, they can request a copy of the book from another library through a process called Interlibrary Loan. Or you can buy the books through Amazon (just click on the links below).
Now, let’s look at some numbers!
…
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2011-08-04, Week 3, Weekly Stats
This week, I gained weight but if you look at the numbers you’ll see that while my total body weight went up, my body fat percentage went down which indicates that I gained muscle. Which is good. On my spreadsheet that I maintain, my lean body mass increased while my fat body mass decreased. So, we’ll call this week a win. 🙂
Related articles
- What is a Healthy Body Fat Percentage? (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 